I don't normally role-play as myself.

To the extent that I'm given freedom to, I usually create a character to role-play as. Normally, I will exaggerate particular sides of my own personality depending on what kind of character I feel like playing as. They are not completely separate from me, but then neither are they the same. I also like to define a few character quirks, traits, or special motivations that might have little to do with me but make sense for the fiction or just add a bit of texture.

Playing as myself was usually kind of frustrating, because most games don't really support the kind of character depth and nuance necessary for a real person to inhabit their fictional worlds. I would constantly find myself unable to make the kinds of choices (or combinations thereof) that actually reflected my own thoughts and values. In most games, it's better to create a caricature of yourself, one that eliminates some of the complexity and perhaps emphasises different aspects of your personality--and try to do it in a way that complements the game's narrative rather than works against it.

Ultimately, this can be surprisingly cathartic and revealing. For example, where you might be conflicted about a decision, with two or more sides of you pushing and pulling in different directions, the character you have decided to play as may not be. It's often interesting to see what happens when you give one side or aspect of yourself primacy over the others, at least in the safety of a fictional world.

As for gender, I used to find it kind of off-putting being the wrong sex or gender, but over time I've experimented with such characters and found ways to relate. In the simplest case, a version of yourself of the opposite sex or gender need not be all that different from you are now, so it really shouldn't be too hard to find that mental space to reside within.